It’s pretty simple what you’ll do. You’ll stand in one place and sing along to the music. You’ll also take an extra shot called “The Hold.”
Here are some basic guidelines.
- Don’t shoot with a phone’s selfie camera. Use the much better camera on the back of the phone.
- Lighting is important as you know. Making it look natural is really important. Work with your friend to make it flattering, but also separating you from the background some, that is, you stand out a little more than the background.
- Wear what you would naturally wear in that place.
- Center yourself, waist or chest up, framed horizontally. See these examples.
Once your shot is set up, you can shoot it all in one take if you want or in separate shots, but making sure you are in the same place for all the shots. Because I have the audio separate, play this music out loud and sing along syncing to recording. I’ll match it up in edit.
There are four shots to shoot. One is new. I’d like to have your face be in the big choir part at the end so please take a bit to learn it enough to sing along. Don’t worry about syncing perfectly. There are four verses so I’ll grab a piece that matches well enough.
1. Angels part 1
2. Angels part 2. Same shot. Play this recording while you sing. Recording the music makes it easier to swap the audio of the nice recording you made earlier.
3. Third, sing along with the big gospel choir. You are singing hope and love to your fellow humans. Sing big and bold, move with the music if it feels right. Here are the words and the music.
May you feel safe May you be happy May you be strong and free from suffering May you feel kindness for yourself (4 times, then) May you feel safe, may you feel safe
4. Finally, shoot “The Hold.” Shoot 30 seconds of you looking straight into the camera. Don’t smile big. Don’t stare. Just look at the camera and let whatever crosses your mind cross you mind.
Then upload the files!
Once you record everything, please make sure to name the files to include your name. It’s okay to have separate files or a bunch of parts in one. And please don’t worry about your stuff being perfect. I’ll be editing your part together with other people’s grabbing just the best parts. Click on this button to upload the files.
Let me know when you’re done. I’ll get an alert, but it’s good to double check.
Thank you!
-David